Come in Out of the Rain
by Winged Senea
Summary: Oneshot. Soren finds a cat on a street in the rain and brings it over to the base, but can't seem to figure out why. Random stuff really.


Come in out of the Rain

Senea: I have to stop playing games. The reason for this cute little fic is because of Twilight Princess. Anyone remember the mission with the cats in the ghost town? Well my sister said that if I cosplayed as Link, I should have a cat. I said that I only want to cosplay as Soren and Soren doesn't like cats…or does he? So, while I was finding all these cats, we pitched a story for a cute oneshot.

Disclaimer: Would Soren actually do this? Probably not. Would anyone of these people do something that I have written? Hell no. That means that it wasn't created by someone who owned the freaking thing so BACK OFF!

* * *

Soren tapped his finger on his desk impatiently, staring at his bed in slight annoyance. He had finished his reports and had updated the entire inventory for the mercenaries, earlier then he normally would've taken. The sage even organized the reports that were done a few weeks ago during their busiest time of year, since those were usually done very fast. After all of those had been finished, he wanted to go to sleep so that he could wake up early tomorrow. Unfortunately, there was something already sleeping on his bed. Right in the middle of it, curled up in a tiny, furry ball. A cat.

He looked at the fur ball once more before looking outside the window as it continued to rain, like it had been for the past few days. Soren didn't even want to remove the cat from its sleeping area. It also looked like it would wake as soon as he positioned himself in an even remotely comfortable position. He sighed as he glanced back at the cat, hearing it purr over the drumming of the rain.

The sage frowned as he tried to remember what possessed him to bring the cat here. He didn't like animals. It was too much of an inconvenience to take care of one if you were a mercenary. Too much mobility and leaving. Yet, here he was, with an animal that he found on the street.

It had been pretty mangled when he found in the alleyway. At first he thought it was dead but then it made a noise akin to a meow. Not sure what to do, Soren gave it a few little dried pieces of meat he had on him and moved it to a place where it was slightly dry, although even now he wasn't quite sure why. He had watched it eat in almost a daze, it practically inhaled the meat it had been given. It then perked its head up and mewed at him, rubbing its small furry face on the sage's fingers, as if to thank the young man. Startled, Soren withdrew his hand from the spot and frowned at the cat as it continued to meow, staring at him with its round blue-green eyes.

Feeling he had finished with his little duty, he stood up and began to walk away, going back to his original destination. Coming to the mouth of the alley he felt something touch his robe. He looked down and the cat was there, one of its paws caught in the wet fabric.

In annoyance, Soren leaned down and hastily removed its claws from his robes then tried to shoo it away with his hands. The cat ignored his command and tried to play with his hands instead. He stood up then, jostling the cat as he did so, and walked away from the cat, hoping that it wouldn't follow.

But the cat did, mewing every so often to get the sages attention which he tried to ignore. He had only walked a few feet before the cat, once again, caught itself on his clothes. Soren growled in frustration and once again, bent down to remove the cats hold on him. Instead of ignoring the feline, he picked it up by the scruff of its neck and looked at it.

The fur was of medium length and was matted in several places, he couldn't even distinguish what the color was of its fur from the dirt and mud attached to it. Its face stared back at him as well, as if to inspect the sage like he was doing. It purred and gave a small meow as he picked it up, its eyes showing thanks in the strange colours, its nose and ears flicked every which way as drops fell on them.

Soren wasn't quite sure how he thought of taking the animal back to the base or even why he did so in the first place. Lucky for him, when he went back to his home, not many people were there, and those who were didn't notice. They were either relaxing or on missions, he didn't care that they knew but for some reason, he made sure no one saw him coming in with the tangled young feline.

The rest of the day, the sage managed to feed and even bathe the animal without anyone noticing, though Mist thought it was strange for Soren to bring some food and milk up to his room, since he never did if he was busy and didn't eat if he wasn't in the dining room. Though brushing the cat was slightly more troublesome and he receive a few scratches for it, the mats were all gone and the grey and white fur was back to what it originally was. The cat then spent a few minutes cleaning itself, looking quite content and happy with its new home. Now it was on his bed, sound asleep, and Soren couldn't bring himself to move it.

The sage sighed again as he felt himself getting tired more. He stifled a yawn and looked back at the sheets on his desk. Perhaps he could review some more of those reports.

* * *

Something made his hair move and Soren opened his eyes slowly as he felt another sharp tug on his head. He had fallen asleep at his desk, his head in his folded arms, one of his hands still holding a piece of paper that described the weapon stock. He glanced outside to see that dawn was just slowly beginning to appear above the horizon, the normal time when he would usually get up at. The skies looked clear now, no longer was it going to rain. At least not today.

He was knocked out of his thoughts as he felt his hair move once again. He looked down to notice the cat was playing with it. It crouched down, eyes wide with excitement as it looked back and forth as the sage's ponytail swayed from side to side. After a few seconds it pounced on it once again and then resumed its position, ready for another 'deadly' strike.

The sage frowned in annoyance and stood up from the chair, ending the cat's playtime. The cat mewed in disappointment but Soren ignored it. He stretched and reminded himself to never sleep in a chair and desk again, which was probably the umpteenth time he has told himself this, and probably wouldn't be the last.

The cat took this opportunity to jump onto his chair, and then onto the desk, sniffing anything and everything in its sights, interested in its new home. Soren watched it with indifference as it pawed a rolled up piece of parchment. He then snorted softly when it sneezed after smelling the ink bottle. After its little exploration, the feline looked up at the young man and mewed to him, sitting in the middle of his desk, its tail swishing from side to side.

Soren stared at the cat as it continued to meow at him, wondering why it was making so much noise. He then realized that it was probably hungry. He exhaled loudly before walking over to the door, opening it slightly before quickly looking at the cat, making sure that it wasn't going to jump out. It looked back at him, its tail curled up around its legs, a curious look on its face as it tilted its head to one side. It wanted to know why he was leaving and what was beyond that door. Seeing that it wasn't going to move from his desk, Soren walked out of his room and shut the door behind him.

A few rays of light were peeping in through the small windows along the corridor as Soren walked towards the kitchen, passing numerous doors that held the other sleeping mercenaries. He made sure to remain quiet when crossing through the doors since almost everyone here were light sleepers, a small noise could wake up half the camp. He was used to being stealthy in the morning anyways, since he was the first one up generally and preferred to have the quietest morning before everyone else woke up.

Stepping down from the last stair and turning a corner shortly afterwards, he arrived at the kitchen and dining room. He began to look through some cabinets to see what the cat would be able to eat in the place, and what he could get away with taking without anyone noticing. Finding some more dried meat that was usually used in emergencies, Soren took a small handful and placed it on the table, before turning around to grab some milk again.

"Soren?" The sage looked over at the entrance way to see Ike standing at it, looking slightly sleepy and frazzled, wearing his normal clothes except for his armour and cape. "What are you doing in the kitchen?" he asked, a hand over his mouth, stifling his words. He began to walk over to his friend, eyeing the meat that was on the table suspiciously, but not saying anything.

"Just…Getting something light to eat." He said, deciding not to get the milk and just take the meat, placing it in the small pouch that was tied to his waist. He didn't really lie, he was getting something to eat…for the small feline that was stuck in his room and probably making a mess in it.

As if on cue, a bang was heard from upstairs, sounding from the area of Soren's room. Ignoring his commander as he looked up to the ceiling with a look of annoyance and slight concern, the sage walked off past him and headed upstairs and to his room where, hopefully, everything was still intact. Or at least, fixable. As he walked past the room beside his, Soren heard mild cursing and shuffling in it. To his relief, it seemed that Boyd had fallen out of bed again. It hadn't been the cat after all, but that didn't make the sage stop or slow down to his destination, as he reached his room and opened the door.

A meow welcomed him back into his room and the body of the sound came bounding towards the sage, happy to see him again, smelling the air as well when it smelled the meat it was going to receive. Soren shut the door quickly as he saw the small feline running towards him and the opened door, making sure that it wouldn't try and escape. That could cause too many problems for the sage. He picked up the cat by its neck again and placed it on his desk, taking the meat out of the container and placing it just a bit short of the cats face. It immediately took one of the pieces and began eating it, enjoying its breakfast. As the sage turned away from it, to get ready for the day to come, he heard a noise in the hall and whipped his head around just to find Ike in his doorway.

The commander looked at his friend in confusion as he shut the door behind him. He looked back at the cat who was happily eating away at the scarps of meat on the sages desk, making a small mess on a couple of papers surrounding it. The sage stood there as well, waiting for the swordsman to say something.

"Soren…" Ike began before stopping, not sure how to address what he wanted to say. The new voice caused the cat to look up and it watched the newcomer with curiosity, licking its lips in satisfaction of its now finished meal.

"Yes, Ike?"

"There…There's a cat in your room."

"Yes, there is."

"How, exactly, did it get here?"

"I brought it here, why else?"

"Of course." Ike said, his hand scratching his head in slight confusion. "You, Soren, brought a cat, into our home…" Ike stated, still sounding a little farfetched to him. "Why? I thought you hated animals."

Soren looked from his commander to the cat, who was now slipping off of his desk and walking around the room. "I honestly don't know what made me bring it…" He answered simply, also confused to his former actions. "I found it in an alley and somehow, managed to bring it here."

"In an alley?" Ike asked, trying to get some more information on what the sage had done yesterday. He did remember that he barely came out of his own room, something that was regular but not since there huge rush of employing. So he had been taking care of this small little cat.

Soren nodded. "It looked dead, I gave it some food and then it didn't want to leave me alone."

Ike looked at his friend, and smiled, realizing why he had taken the cat. The story did sound slightly familiar to him.

Soren watched his friends expression change from confusing to happy, confused himself as to what was funny with the subject. He gave him a questioning look. "What is it, Ike?" he asked.

The commander shook his head as if to dismiss the topic, still smiling. "Oh, nothing. It's nothing. It's just…It is a good reason for taking the little guy."

"What is a good reason?"

Ike walked over to his friend and ruffled the sage's hair, getting a very disgruntled look from him. "You'll figure it out like I did soon enough, Soren." He said, still smiling. "Now," he announced, glancing over at the ball of fluff that was staring at them again. "what are we going to do with him? Got a name at least?"

"We're…Keeping it?" Soren asked, slightly confused. Although he did take the cat into this home and took care of him, he had no intention of actually keeping it. He thought that he would bring it over back to the village and see if anyone wanted it if the cat was fixed up.

"Of course. He seems to have taken quite a liking to you anyway." Ike bent down and began petting the cat. It rubbed against the man's fingers, purring instantly and loudly at the attention. It then pranced shortly to the sage and rubbed against his legs, purring even louder if possible. Soren made no move, feeling like he would trip on the cat or step on it. Ike stood up again and looked back at the sage. "So, what's his name?"

Soren thought for a moment, glancing down at the cat, studying it for a second. "Link." He stated simply, seeing that it fit the blue eyed cat well. The cat perked its ears and looked up at his owner, meowing a thanks for its new name, pawing the end of his robes again, wanting to play with the sage.

"Link it is, then." Ike said, giving both of them a small smile. "Now I better get downstairs and make sure everyone else is awake. I want you down there soon too, okay? We'll have a small announcement about the new addition then" His friend nodded and watched him leave his room. As the door closed, the raven haired sage turned and sat on his bed, wondering what he needed to do to get ready for the day.

The cat mewed again, interrupting the young mans thoughts once again, and jumped up beside him, rubbing against the sage. Soren stared at him for a while before taking his hand and rubbing the cat on his head and behind his ears. Link mewed and purred happily and Soren gave a small, rare smile in return as it enjoyed his company and vice versa.

* * *

Senea: Sigh. I can't end things for the life of me. But I think it ended pretty well…slightly. Oh well. This was way long.

The cat's name is a reference to the game that I got this idea from, in case you didn't know. Or it could have some hidden meaning. Who knows?

Ike knows why Soren actually picked up the cat, and Soren still doesn't know why. I made it that way cause Soren is a bit of an idiot towards his own emotions, while knowing everything else. If you know why he got it, yay for you, I don't feel like explaining it. Even if you don't get it, that's fine, it's still a good story. Right?

Thanks for reading and please leave a review before you go. Thank you!


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